The first Nugget in the practice gym today was Andre Miller, who had his first workout there since December of 2006, during his first time in powder blue.

The point guard was part of the famous Allen Iverson trade and returned to George Karl’s Nuggets this June, thanks to a draft-night trade with Portland.

One of the reasons Denver traded Raymond Felton for Miller was because Felton yearned to be a starter – and even though Felton played big minutes alongside Ty Lawson in the Nuggets’ backcourt, it was Lawson who was officially Denver’s starting pointguard.

But there’s some question whether Miller will be OK with coming off the bench. And when it was asked today if he expected to start, Miller got a tad testy, stating: “I’m not even going to go into that right now.

“My main thing is just to stay in shape, stay competitive. I know I’m going to be on the court. I’m going to challenge and try to help guy get better.”

Now, if Nene doesn’t re-sign with Denver, the Nuggets could get creative, starting Lawson and Miller in the backcourt, Arron Afflalo at the three, Danilo Gallinari at the four and then Timofey Mozgov at the five. But Miller historically isn’t as good a defender as Felton was, so the Nuggets would suffer defensively in the backcourt with that lineup. On the contrary, the offense would have a lot of firepower.

Miller was honest about his body today, saying, “I feel all right, I still have a long way to go. … I’ve been here in Denver pretty much since August, trying to stay in decent shape. I still am going to be a little out of shape. I’m just trying to be fundamentally right.”

As for being a veteran on the team, Miller said: “I’ve always taken that (leadership) challenge, ever since I came into the league. It’s a different but new situation (here). It’s just back to business – I treat it as a business, as a job. Whether it’s a leader or however you want to look at it, everybody’s got to step into that role.”